


Alabasta Chronicles: Sarutobi

by CommandoGarrus



Series: Alabasta Chronicles [1]
Category: Fantasy - Fandom, Romance - Fandom
Genre: Death, Destruction, Empire, Epic, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 20:52:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6872899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommandoGarrus/pseuds/CommandoGarrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sarutobi. The Great Red Samurai has doomed us all. Join Faze and his Gang as they try to finally take on the merciful overlord. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alabasta Chronicles: Sarutobi

**Author's Note:**

> A Fantasy story I've been writing so I decided to post it on here. Hopefully you guys will like it and sorry for the errors, I will do a review over them later and add some more stuff missing to the story but for now....Peace and thanks for the kudos and hits all you guys! Especially on my Civil War story I just started, so go check that out too. Love you guys ;) Peace

"Sarutobi doomed us all. The Great Red Samurai from the deadly hills of Barandor doomed us all. Not a soul knows who he really is, or where he REALLY comes from. Yet, he just appeared, almost out of thin air. Settled down in the dry, dark prairies known today as "The Death Valley of Takras." Takras.....such a dark, evil, malevolent place. Just thinking about it is enough to drive a man mad at the sight of such a thing. No one has ever tried to stop his force, they just seem to let him take parts of their country. Nowadays the whole world seems to hang around the palace of Faran Dhur, the biggest, most protected city in all of Alabasta. The stories tell of a great powerful wizard, standing at the side of Sarutobi, who is capable of creating a huge protective aura around all of Takras, making it impenetrable..." Yelled out the old crazy man.

"That crazy old man is back at it again." A nearby soldier said as he filled a wooden chug with mead.

"If he doesn't shut his trap we'll have to take care of him for the night." Said the other soldier looking at his friend "If you know what I mean."

 

A small crowd had gathered around the old man to listen. This crowd included youthful children filled with curiosity, peaceful farmers who were just buying various objects from nearby markets and Faze and Lithariel. Faze hated to admit it but the old man was right. Almost no one had ever seen Sarutobi, yet he managed to take over half the country, including the Dwarven Mountains.

The bright moon shinned against the old man's wrinkles. The light of the moon mixed with a few torches to create a comfortable ambience.

"He shall bring on the end of Alabasta, and us with it!" Yelled out the old man as he waved his arms in spectacular fashion. 

Faze and Lithariel had stopped to the small town of Barnabus, down towards the Sea of Legends. They had stopped there for a couple of days to finish of Lithariel's training since it was close to the mountains and the sea at the same time. Barnabus was a small naval town. The old man was doing his speech on a small boardwalk used to execute prisoners.

"His Mordovaes will slay us! We're all doomed!" Yelled the Old Man as he got more and more hectic over the touchy subject.

"Going a bit overboard..." Lithariel whispered to Faze since they were in the middle of the crowd. "Don't you think?"

"Must be a touchy subject for him..." Faze said as he watched the nearby guards walk onto the execution stand.

"Alright Old Man." Said one of the soldiers as he grabbed the old man like a bag of potatoes "Show's over. Let's bring this fool back to where he belongs. Jail." 

Faze had a questioned look on his face as he watched the soldiers walk down the stairs holding the old man. Faze quickly walked out of the dispersing crowd and stood in front of the guards.

"Why are you bringing him to jail?" Asked Faze "He didn't do anything bad. He's just expressing himself."

"Move out of the way citizen or I will be allowed to hurt you. Badly." Responded the guard as he looked at the Dark Argonian.

Lithariel showed up behind Faze with her sword in hand. 

"I wouldn't do that mister." Lithariel said with a serious look on her face.

"Move out of the way." Said the Guard as he tried to move Faze. 

Faze stayed in place and stared at the guard. 

"Not before you let go of that old man." Faze said as he took out his sword. 

The soldier took out his sword and pushed Faze. Faze barely moved. The soldier tried to stab Faze with his sword but Faze blocked and with the back of his blade, he hit the guard in the stomach. The soldier fell down holding his stomach in pain. Faze kicked him off into the ocean. The other soldier ran towards Faze and tackled him to the ground. Lithariel grabbed the soldier and started strangling him with the back of her blade. Faze quickly got up and grabbed the soldier by the side of the face. Suddenly his whole arm became ghostlike and transparent. It emitted a strong blue light. The soldier's mind started going nuts as his eyes filled with the same blue light.

"You will run away and leave the old man alone." Said Faze before grabbing the soldier by the neck and throwing him of the execution stand and on the dirt.

The soldier ran away screaming "Wraiths!" 

"Smooth." Lithariel said sarcastically as she looked at the civilians walking away scared.

"At least the old man's ok." Faze said with a smile as he helped the old man up.

"Thank you stranger..." The old man said as he walked away.

Lithariel looked at the moon as she yawned.

"How about we call it a night?" She said looking as Faze. 

"Sure." Faze said as he started walking towards the nearby Den.

Faze was a Black Argonian with purple feathers on the top of his head. He had horns going along the sides of the back of his head. He was about 6 feet tall. He was a Wraith just like Lithariel which meant that they were both banished from death. His armour was black with purple highlights. It was pretty sleek and made for fast movements. He had a Broadsword with the words "Courage upon Romance and Death" etched in Argonian. He also had a broken sword that acted as a dagger.

Lithariel was a Human Female of about 5 feet 8. She had no definite age since Wraiths are basically immortal but they aren't invulnerable. She had long black and red hair that ran down one side of her face. She was very pretty and had green eyes. Her armour was red with black highlights such as black feathers. The armour was also made for fast and sleek movements just like Faze's which meant that there was no armour around the elbows and fore arms and around the hips and belly. She had pretty much the same equipment as Faze except for her sword which was just a normal broadsword.

Lithariel took off her armour and slipped into the covers on a bed next to Faze's bed. 

"Goodnight Lithariel." Said Faze as he closed his eyes.

Lithariel smiled.

"Good Night Faze."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Thank you," Percival murmured politely to the old lady that he bought apples from at the town square. Percival looked at the morning sun as it rose above nearby buildings. Percival was a frequent buyer at Mrs. Borad's fruit stand at the Uvalt Town Market. He was a Dark Elf Mage who had just graduated from The College of Wizardry. Uvalt was a small town located in the North-East of Alabasta. It was known for its College of Wizardry which held about 1/6th of the Wizarding council. Percival put the apples he had bought in his bag. He looked to the left to see some soldiers at a nearby bread stand. He slowly approached, trying to be as casual as possible. 

"I hear from the landlord that you haven't been paying your rents, Mister..." The soldier searched his multiple papers he held in his hand.

"Ah! Mister DesChamps!" He yelled. At that exact time, the entire market went quiet, all praying that the poor man wouldn't get hurt by the soldiers

The soldier smirked at Mr. DesChamps, then looked at the other soldiers accompanying him. He then said, in a very loud voice so everyone could hear, "Judging by the stand you sell your bread at, I don't think you deserve a title as average as "Mister!"" Him and the other soldiers laughed at the comment he had previously made. 

Percival was drawing his wand from the back of his green cloak, and slowly dropping his bag and over-jacket. Percival suddenly jumped into the middle of the clearing that the crowd had moved away from in order to not interfere with the soldier. He was standing right in front of the soldiers when he yelled a chant, "Negife!"

The spell actually misfired and hit a bag of flour behind the soldier, causing a bunch of chickens to come running to peck at the flour. The soldiers exploded into laughter. After they had finished their laughing, one of them said, "what's your class, Mage?" 

"Yota," Percival said in his serious tone he employed when talking to soldiers. The soldiers started laughing again. 

"Kid, please," the same soldier said. The soldier then walked up to Percival and lifted him up by the scruff of the neck.

"A Yota. To me, that means that you are an unexperienced, weak and useless Mage who will never accomplish anything." The soldier kept him off the ground without even breaking a sweat, probably because Percival had a very slender build. 

"Goddamn right you should be afraid of me, you'll all be afraid of me!" Percival shouted.

"I'm going to work my way up the Wizarding Council, and sooner or later, I'll be the one who kills the Red Samurai of Death!" Percival continued. The crowd started whispering, and there were some people who even gasped. The soldier flipped him sideways, kicked him in the stomach and dropped him to the floor. Percival couldn't breathe. 

At that point, a voice from the crowd yelled, "Percival!" 

It was Marco, Percival's roommate. 

"He's innocent, I promise that there won't be another feud like today. I'm pretty sure he had a bit too many drinks before he came to get us groceries!" Marco yelled in Percival's defence. 

"What relation do you have with this kid?" Asked one of the soldiers to Marco.

"I'm his roommate," said Marco, calmly. Then, the same soldier that had beat up Percival lifted the young Mage up again, he then went over to Marco and lifted him up by the scruff of the neck as well. He held them so that the entire audience at the town square could see them.

"You see these two?" Yelled the soldier. 

"If any merchant or person gives or sells anything to these two people for the next week, it'll be off with your heads!" The soldier then simultaneously dropped Marco and Percival and went on his way with the other soldiers.

 

Back at the small house that was partly owned by Marco and Percival, the two young men were talking. 

"I thought I could take them," Percival sighed.

"Percival, it's been three full moons since you've graduated from Magic school, don't think you can start taking on guards like you tried back at the square," Marco said to comfort Percival. 

"I've made up my mind," Percival said firmly.

"What, you're going to take up your family business 5 years after your parents' death? Finally!" Marco sighed, relieved. 

"No, I'm going west," Percival said.  
"What?! Are you crazy!! How?!?" Marco got up off his seat and started yelling at Percival.

"I talked to this foreigner, apparently, there's going to be this small "fellowship" meeting place as he likes to call it down in the Capital." Percival explained. 

"Faran Dhur?! Are you mad?! When are you leaving?" Marco asked. 

Percival looked at the sun, it was sunrise. "Actually, about right now," he said.

Marco stared in disbelief.

"When you see me again Marco, I'll be one of the strongest mages in these lands, trust me on it." And without saying much else, he hugged Marco and headed out the door into the land he once called "Home". To him now, it was "Hell." He had managed to drag himself out of hell, now, he was going to go into the unknown. The great distant unknown of Alabasta.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Lithariel woke up as the morning sun rose and shined bright light through a nearby window. She turned around slowly. Faze was already out of bed, putting his armour on.

"Hey." She said as she sat up "Where are we headed today?" 

Faze smiled. 

"You are going to like this." Faze explained "We are heading to the Capital."

"Faran Dhur?!" Lithariel screamed out in excitement. "Really?! I have never been to the capital before."

"This is going to be the last day of your training." Faze said with a smile "You have done plenty well my dear. I want you to take the day off at one of the places you've always wanted to go."

"When do we leave?" Asked Lithariel as she put her armour on.

"Right when you have done dressing yourself and grabbing your things." Faze said.

"Right now?" Lithariel asked.

"Yes." Faze answered sure of himself.

"Okay then." Lithariel said as she quickly grabbed her things.

 

Faze and Lithariel quickly walked out. They could hear the waves crashing against the boardwalks. The fresh smell of sea and morning filled their noses as they started walking west towards Faran Dhur. Nearby merchants were selling various products on the main road. Faze looked up at the big, high, snowy mountains towering beside Barnabus. He lowered his look only to see people look at him with a devious yet curious look.

"We're walking there?" Asked Lithariel.

"I did say this was the last day of your TRAINING." Faze answered as he kept on walking.

"Of course." Lithariel said "Don't worry, I can take the trouble."

Faze laughed and looked back one more time at the town of Barnabus before continuing on his way. They would probably arrive at noon if they hurried up. He looked at Lithariel with a smile.

"Faran Dhur is a big vast Fortress transformed into a city." Faze described to Lithariel "The place is filled with citizens, guards and merchants but be careful because there is also some crooks and thieves that you might not see coming. "

"Don't worry." Lithariel responded "We got each other's back."

"It's pretty easy to lose someone in the big city so be careful and stay close to me." Faze ordered.

Lithariel looked at the nearby trees. The sky was clear but there was a few clouds. She heard the sound of birds and a nearby river as they crossed a small bridge. She took a deep breath and smiled.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

 

Percival walked onto the big bridge leading to Faran Dhur. He moved through the merchants and guards on the bridge and headed into the busy city. He looked up and spotted four archers at the top of the gate into the city. He kept quiet, trying to pass unnoticed over the sound of all the people in the street. Percival looked around and saw a nearby lady selling Fruits.

"Pardon me." Percival asked politely. "Could you tell me where "the fellowship" is having a meeting?"

"I do not know what you're talking about young man." She said.

Percival sighed. 

"Thanks anyway." He said as he walked away.

Percival continued walking in the streets. It could take him hours to get where he wants to go. He doesn't even know if the meeting is true but he sure as hell will take his chances. Suddenly a tall Elf grabbed him from behind.

"Don't turn around." The Elf said as he held Percival tightly "Walk two alleys down north and turn west into a small room. By the way my name's Elgorn. In the future, hold your tongue in public. We don't want our cover to be blown."

So it was true. Percival wasn't here for nothing. He didn't know what the meeting was about but he didn't really care. Anything to get him out of Uvalt once in a while was worth it. After walking the distance told to in silence, Elgorn opened a door and invited Percival in a small decrepit building. Percival went down a flight of stairs and ended up in a room packed with people. There was a small stage in the front of the room where a man was standing. Percival looked around. He saw all types of different kinds of people. Elves, Humans, a few halflings, and even a Dwarf. 

"What is this meeting about?" Asked Percival to Elgorn who was standing beside him. 

"Not a clue." Elgorn responded.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Oh my lord!" Lithariel said exhausted as she walked onto the main bridge of Faran Dhur. 

She looked up to see the height of the whole city. It was massive. The streets were narrow, packed with people and tall buildings. A tall wall surrounded the whole city. The only way in was through 3 bridges. One to the south, one east, and one west.

"This is exciting!" Lithariel said as she thought of her small childhood village. "This is nothing like where I grew up!"

Faze and Lithariel walked in the streets. They decided to stop at a nearby marketplace since it was around noon. Faze took out his pouch of gold coins and payed for a few pieces of bread and vegetables which he packed in a pouch located on his hip. 

"Thanks." Said Faze as he waved to the lady.

Suddenly a dark figure appeared out of nowhere and stole Faze's gold coins. He started running away through the crowd of people.

"Hey!" Faze exclaimed as he ran after the thief. 

Lithariel followed Faze.

"You tell me to be careful and you're the one that gets stolen from." Lithariel laughed. 

The thief managed to find a clearing through the public and headed up a ladder which led to a rooftop. 

"Pardon me.....excuse me....sorry.....move along..." Faze politely said as he started moving people.

After clearing out of the way, Faze jumped onto the ladder followed by Lithariel and they ran after the thief on top of the rooftops. 

The thief had a dark blue hood on and a same colour bandana that covered his mouth. He had light armour on with heavy gauntlets. You could tell he was an adept fighter just by looking at him. His armour was dark grey with a few shades of brown/black. He had a quiver running down his back next to his bow. The thief started running away faster. After gaining a good distance between them he stopped, picked an arrow from his quiver and aimed at Faze. He let go of the arrow and it hit Faze right in the shoulder. Faze lost his balance from the shock and fell onto the side of the rooftop. Lithariel ran up to the thief with her sword out and tried to grab him. The thief blocked and kicked Lithariel right in the stomach. Lithariel got back up quickly and tried to stun him using her wraith fist. Her whole arm became light blue and flashed light. The thief looked in amazement as he almost forgot to block. At the last second, the thief stopped the hit, punched Lithariel in the face, grabbed her by the arm and tripped her to the ground as he twisted lightly on her shoulder. 

The thief ran away as Faze ran up to Lithariel.

"Get him!" She yelled out "I'm fine. I'll come join you later."

Faze looked back at the thief and saw him climbing another ladder which lead to an even higher rooftop. He ran after him and managed to catch up to him as the rooftop was a dead end. Faze looked at the Thief.

"It isn't nice to steal other people's belongings." Faze said as he walked towards the thief. 

Faze tried to hit him with an assault of fists but the thief managed to block them and ended it with a kick to the stomach. Faze backed up a bit and took a small breath.

"Damn." Faze said as he cracked his neck "Okay."

The thief ran up to Faze and started hitting him with his fists. Faze raised his forearms in front of his face as he guarded the punches. He dodged one of the thief's punches and hit him with an uppercut. The thief backed up before taking out his sword. Faze took out his sword too. They both ran towards each other and clashed swords. They slowly started to turn in circles, still struggling to see who would make the fatal mistake. 

"Who are you?" Asked Faze.

"You don't need to know. All you need to know is that I'm dangerous."

The thief ended the clash as he tried to stab Faze. Faze dodged with his sword and hit the thief in the face with the back of his blade. The thief backed up and raised his sword in the air. 

"I am an assassin." The thief yelled out "You shouldn't run after trouble Argonian."

The thief lowered his sword onto Faze. The move was so fast that all Faze could dodge with was his hand. The tip of the sword sliced open Faze's hand diagonally. Faze took the opening as a chance and smacked him with his bloody hand, spreading blood in his eyes. The thief stopped moving. He stood there grunting as he tried to wipe the dark blood out of his eyes. Faze grabbed his gold coins.

"And you..." Faze yelled as he took a swing before running. "...should not create any additional trouble."

Faze ran towards the assassin and tackled him off the rooftop by the waist. Everything seemed to go slower as they flew through the air. The thief's armour was good enough to withstand that kind of impact. The thief was screaming in fear. Faze looked below them and saw an old decrepit building. 

"Ladies and gentlemen." Yelled out the man in the middle of the stage. "Today is probably the most important topic of all time. Today might be the Fellowship's last reunion. I thank you all for coming. Now..."

Faze and the thief crashed through the roof and smashed onto the hard rocky floor. Faze let out a painful sound as he got off of the thief.

"You've got guts Argonian." The thief said with a smile as blood ran down his mouth and nose. "I'll give you that."

"Who are these people?" Asked the man at the centre of the stage. 

A loud scream was heard and Lithariel also came crashing down through the roof.

"Who are these people?" Asked Percival curious as he observed them.

"I don't know." Elgorn responded just as curiously as Percival.

"Sit them there." The man pointed at a nearby bench.

A few people helped Faze, Lithariel and the Thief up onto the bench.

"Where are we?" Asked Lithariel.

"Not a clue." Faze responded as he listened to the man. "And you better not steal from me again Thief."

The Assassin looked at Faze.

"My name is Pheo." Pheo replied "Not "Thief"."

"As you may know...!" Yelled the man at the centre of the stage, interrupting them. "Sarutobi, is becoming a great problem for all of Alabasta. That is why this meeting is going to be devoted entirely to finding a way to kill him."

"We could strike his defences with all we got!" Yelled out The Dwarf.

"I'm afraid that wouldn't work." Replied the man. "Takras is protected by a thick protective aura. No one to this day has ever set foot onto Takras, BUT there is rumours about a so called "Seal of Orichalcos" located deep below in the Dwarven Mountains which is said to have enough power to destroy the aura located around Takras. Now if this is true or not, nobody knows but it would be worth a try."

"I say we form a team to go and get the seal!" Yelled out someone.  
"That's a brilliant idea!" Yelled out the man on stage. "Now....who volunteers."

Not a soul raised their hand. Everyone wanted Sarutobi gone but they didn't want to die for the cause.

"I do!" Yelled out the Dwarf as he walked out of the crowd.

He had a tiny tear running down his cheek as if he was remembering terrible events of the past.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"They're coming."

The last few words Caran Gauntletracker's father said to him before going off to fight the evil lord's army. Not a goodbye or anything. Just a rye and fake smile then a "They're coming". To be honest, not the most emotional farewell ever. He had almost finished his descent from the southernmost mountain called Khuskan. Even though the Dwarven Mountains were in the central province of this land, there was still plenty of snow year-round.

The Dwarven Mountains, a rich and prosperous line of mountains filled with precious gems and resources that only a Dwarf could support. An iconic symbol that the reign of the Good King Jayden stood for; a hopeful, balanced and peaceful society. 

That was destroyed in a matter of weeks once the Mordovaes conquered the northernmost mountain, Kaloive. Mordovaes; the pawns of Saturobi. Once they invaded Kaloive, they moved southwards, down the mountain range. Now, Caran was one of the last remaining Dwarves of his generation. He looked like your average Dwarf, robust, longish hair and classic Dwarven armour crafted at the local forges. He was out in the snowy lower parts of the mountain, but he was far from cold. All he had been doing that day was running. Trying to always be one step ahead of the enemy. That way, he thought to himself, he wouldn't get hurt. He wasn't lost, he was just unsure of how far he had to run until he reached the local fur-trading post. It was dark at night, but it was more than clear due to the fires from the mountains. Some fires originated from the forges, some originated from the Mordovaes as they burnt down all the nearby houses.

 

When Caran reached the post, he grabbed the warmest furs he could find. The post wasn't much to look at. Just a wooden structure with a table that served as a counter. Caran found a letter on the table that read;

"To the next Kaloivian Dwarf who occupies this post. We have gone to the city capital called Faran Dhur to trade with the inhabitants there. We will be back within the next few weeks...." 

Caran finished reading the letter. So, in the end, he wasn't the last of his kin there. He had to go to this so called Faran Dhur and find the other dwarves before it was too late. Caran didn't waste another second to get out of the post. Even though The small sliver light of the moon was straight up above him, he didn't rest. In his head, he was still haunted by the fact that he had watched  
his family and friends all die in those mountains. He would never look at those mountains in the same way again, and he would never look at the snow, or anything associated with this night the same ever again. He was alone. He was one of the last of his kind. 

Once Caran arrived at Faran Dhur, he managed to find the other Dwarves, but they were dead. Slaughtered in a dark alley and stolen from by petty thieves. A soon broken Caran seeked out refuge in the big vast city. It started to rain as the clouds covered the moon. 

Caran hid in a dark alley and slept there for the night.

 

The next morning, Elgorn bumped into Caran by pure random. He was just going to the nearby market and saw the small Dwarf, burnt and exhausted lying there in the alley. Not knowing what to do, Elgorn grabbed Caran and brought him into the Fellowship's camp. As the days passed on, Elgorn and Caran had developed quite the friendship. It was Caran's way of escaping the dark, painful truth of reality. He stayed at the camp until up to this day, swearing revenge on Sarutobi and his Mordovaes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I VOLUNTEER!" Screamed out the Dwarf as tears ran down his cheeks. "I DO NOT CARE IF I AM THE ONLY ONE TO GO!"

Caran thought of the weeks before. He thought of his Father, battling the Mordovaes alongside Jayden as they slowly over ran them. He had ran away last time, but this time, he was going to prove his courage once and for all.

Elgorn sighed at the sound of Caran's voice and raised his hand.

"I volunteer." Elgorn said as he walked up front and stood beside Caran.

Percival looked at Elgorn as he walked up to the front. Was this what he was after? Percival, still very curious, raised his hand. 

"I volunteer!" He shouted out as he moved the crowd to go to the front.

This expedition would give Percival plenty of opportunities to evolve his magical skills and spells. Plus, it might give him a shot at the great samurai that he could only dream of. If they somehow managed to do this, Percival would be one of the most powerful and respected people in all of Alabasta. He thought for a moment at the soldiers he ran into that morning and laughed a bit.

Faze looked at Lithariel with a smile. 

"What do you say?" Faze asked "It's not every day that you get a chance to slay the dark lord and save Alabasta, Lithariel."

"I volunteer!" Yelled out Lithariel as she rose up from the bench.  
"I do too!" Faze responded as he got off the bench.

Pheo looked at Faze for a moment and smirked. 

"Let's see how you handle in a real fight Argonian." Pheo said as he stood up "I volunteer!" 

The man in the centre waited for a bit to see if anyone else would volunteer but no one did. They were all just stunned at how many people actually volunteered. Suddenly out of no where a voice was heard. "I volunteer."

A brown khajit with grey highlights stood up. He had brown leather armour mixed with black iron armour. His armour had dark brown hair at the end of each pieces of armour. 

"Daro?" Said the man surprised "I'm surprised to see you go!"

"You'll be even more surprised to see when I come back with Sarutobi's head!" Daro yelled out before standing beside Pheo.

"Very well then." Said someone in the crowd of people.

"So strangers..." The man on the stage said with a smile. "Your journey begins now!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Fellowship was at a pub, which was located on the further outskirts of Faran Dhur. They rented a small room where nobody could listen to their plots. Pheo entered with around two dozen drinks, carried by many waiters.

"We're so rich, look at the funding that this organization gave us!" Pheo shouted at the rest of the fellowship. Everyone grinned at Pheo, he really was an easy going person. Caran was in the corner with Elgorn, he looked furious. 

"Did you know that this fellowship is a secret organization set up by King Jayden, the king who brought peace to this entire kingdom for the first time in 1000 years! And you insolent..... Thief...y-y-you spend....his money... ON DRINKS!?!?" Caran was outraged. It was his King that Pheo was stealing from, his people, who were all but extinct. In fact King Jayden himself might be dead for all he knows. He was about to get up and go start a fight with the assassin when Elgorn put his hand on the dwarf's shoulder. Daro saw what was happening and told the waiters to put the drinks back and refund them. Daro decided to take things into his hands, so he stood up and with his tall posture, told everyone to quiet down.

"I hope everyone here realizes the importance of this quest. If we succeed, we would go down in history. If we fail, the province of Takras gets bigger and bigger and destroys history itself. Not only will they destroy all we've built, but also destroy everything our children and next generation will build. So, does anyone here actually know where we should start by looking, or doing? Because, to be honest, I feel as if you all know just as much as I do, which is nothing at all. Now speak your ideas, once at a time please," Daro ended his speech and sat down. 

Lithariel blushed a little as she thought of her children. She had never really thought of that before. She quickly looked at Faze and smiled before looking back at Daro.

"Well, a word of advice I've learned from my time with Faze would be, 'If you want to end something, look at where it started'. I remember this wise man giving a speech at a town that we visited once, he said that the Samurai comes from somewhere called 'the Hills of Barandor.' Does anyone know where that might be located?" Lithariel asked and explained. Faze nodded in approval. 

"The hills of Barandor is a small set of hills, with red, but surprisingly fertile, sands. These hills used to be home to a group of monks, called the Thymen. These monks would set fire to the hills with a substance that has been long forgotten—" Faze was going to continue, but Percival interrupted him.

"Wait, you can burn sand?" Percival asked.

"With this certain substance, you could. They set fire to the hills, creating hard, solid homes that they, and other people who lived in that area, could live in. The melted red sand would create an extra-tough glass on top of the hills, making the hills great to live underground, in caves. " Faze explained. But Percival was still confused. 

"Are there any monks, or even people, left there?" The young Mage asked, fascinated by the story Faze was telling him.

"No, they were probably all killed or scared off by the native Dormworm, a giant worm that lives underground. The worm probably destroyed the underground burrows, making living conditions there very hard. But, as rumour has it, there is a village that was left untouched by the Dormworm, where there are still people who live." Faze continued. 

"But we must also be conscious of the Seal of Orichalcos. That is the key to breaking into Takras. The Seal of Orichalcos is a spell that can only be pulled off by an exceptionally skilled Wizard. And that wizard is supposed to have passed six trials before the wizard in question is deemed worthy. The tests include of him, and his followers, if the case, travelling to different spiritual and religious places across the land, taking mental and physical trials along the way." Caran explained. 

"Well, luckily we do have an exceptionally skillful Mage with us here, don't we, eh?" Pheo lightly punched Percival in the shoulder with a smirk.

"What's your class, Mage?" Caran asked.

Percival hated that question, it was almost as if Caran was the dwarf equivalent of those mean soldiers he had faced off against in the town square. Oddly enough, that had happened not even 48 hours ago.

Percival gulped, he then said in his calm, casual voice when talking about his magic skills, "Yota."

"That's just great!" Said Caran in a sarcastic voice. "I was kind of hoping this fellowship would have a pretty good Mage. Maybe a Tier 4, or at least a Tier Two wizard, but a Tier 1 ?!? A Yota!?!? Are you kidding me, we're supposed to save Alabasta with a Yota as our spell caster and healer?!?! This job just gets harder and harder..." Complained Caran.

"Caran, give him a chance!" Responded Elgorn. Elgorn then handed Percival a glass of milk. 

"How long has it been since you graduated magical school, Percival?" Elgorn asked politely.

"It's been three full moons since I graduated, and what am I supposed to do with this glass of milk," answered Percival.

"Simple. This Is a Tier 3 spell where you must turn the milk into alcohol. Usually, a Mage with a Gamma/Tier 3 classification could pull this off. With luck and concentration, I'm sure you could pull this off too." Elgorn nodded at Percival with his arms crossed. Percival channeled his energy, with the thought of alcohol in his mind, he took his wand out and cast the transformation spell.

"Portas!" He said with confidence and determination. Elgorn took the glass. Nothing happened. Everyone started laughing, even Elgorn smirked a bit. Percival started breathing heavily. Suddenly, he felt the feline-like hand of Daro on his shoulder.

"Breathe, son, breathe. Now try again," he reassured Percival. Percival tried again. Still, no success. 

"Sorry kid, you're just not good enough it seems, maybe you should go back home and live a normal life." Said Faze. 

Those words, to Percival, stung more than the venom of 100 snakes, burnt more than melted gold, and scarred more than a claw mark from a rabid demon. Suddenly, Percival's eyes started glowing a sapphire-like blue. He raised a hand, without even a wand, and pushed Faze right into the corner of the room. The force-push was so strong, in fact, it broke the table that was in between Faze and the wall in half. Faze was pinned against the wall, not being able to move one single finger. 

"What the hell are you doing, kid?!" Yelled Caran as he took out his axe.

"Cut it out!" Bellowed Daro. 

Nothing was stopping him. 

"That's it!" Pheo took out an arrow laced with Bourgeos, an herb that, when touched by it, disabled all forms of magical ability one could possess. "How about you take a Bourgeos arrow to the head!" Pheo shouted, uncontrollably.

"Don't! You're going to kill him!" Ordered Elgorn. 

"It's either him or Faze, you choose, elf!" Pheo screamed back as he drew his bow.

But, just before Pheo shot the arrow, Lithariel was in the corner, trying to hold her tears and the terrified expression on her face. Pheo shot the arrow. Elgorn tackled Pheo to the ground. It hit Percival in the right thighbone. He still held his spell, though, against all odds. Lithariel jumped right in front of Percival so he could see her. 

"Percival! Please! You're killing him!" She sobbed.

All of a sudden, Percival loosened his grip on Faze as he looked into Lithariel's terrified eyes. Faze dropped to the floor, gasping for breath. Percival's eyes returned to a normal brown. Lithariel ran to Faze, who was gasping for breath. Percival collapsed as well, the arrow wound hadn't been taken out yet, so he just ripped it out himself. He tried to approach Faze and Lithariel, but was stopped by her.

"You monster! You nearly killed him!" She screamed still in shock as she took her sword out and pointed it at Percival.

Daro took out his sword and stopped Lithariel's. 

"Lithariel..." Daro said quietly "Calm Down..."

Lithariel fell to her knees, tears running down her cheeks. She wasn't able to do anything when Percival attacked Faze. She wanted to but she just couldn't.

In the corner of the room, Elgorn and Caran stood. They talked amongst each other.

"Did you see his eyes, they were glowing blue! What does that mean?" Elgorn said to Caran.

"I don't know for sure, but if my magical knowledge is correct, it means he is a Divine Mage"

"A divine Mage?" Elgorn asked again.

"They are rare, they usually only occur once every century, but divine mages are those who have the potential to become legendary wizards. Unlike most wizards, a divine Mage uses his emotions to cast spells, and not just casting them using magical techniques." Daro explained.

"Is that why his eyes were glowing?" Elgorn replied.

"Could be. It could also be why that arrow laced with Bourgeos—which would be enough to kill your average wizard—didn't seem to affect him. But what's weirdest about this is the fact that I asked him to pull off a Tier 3 spell and he couldn't do it." Daro wondered. 

"Why is that so strange?" Caran asked.

"Because the force-push spell is a Tier 5, an Omega classified spell. To give you an idea, some current members who sit in the Wizarding Council are Tier 5 rated." Daro answered.

"Can there be anything higher than an Omega Wizard?" Elgorn asked.

"Yes, there are Betas, who are tier 6, and Alphas who are tier 7 but those are extremely rare. Apart from the sixth and seventh tier, I don't think there's anything higher." Daro finished.

Elsewhere, in the room, Pheo went up to Percival because he saw he had to treat his wound alone. He walked up to him. Percival looked at Pheo, teary-eyed, and didn't say anything. Pheo pointed a finger to the sky then reached in his bad to pull out a bandage cloth. He then handed that to Percival, without saying much.

"Thanks..." Percival sighed. 

"Look on the bright side, kid, at least you didn't kill him. Plus, everyone's scared of you now." Pheo said to comfort Percival.

"Well that wasn't my intentions. I don't know what happened to me, it was just a rush of emotions. I see you aren't really scared." Percival noticed. Pheo picked up the arrow that he shot and checked if he had shot the arrow laced with Bourgeos. To his amazement, it was. How Percival survived the hit was beyond him. 

"No, I'm not scared of something I have to shoot. Sorry again..." Pheo said awkwardly to hide his confused thoughts.

Once Faze had recovered slightly and Percival was fixed up, everyone settled down a bit. Faze stood up, and yelled "Get your sleep tonight. Tomorrow, we depart for the Hills of Barandor. Let's try to forget what happened tonight, and start a new day tomorrow."

Faze looked at Percival, still very angry but not showing it. Percival turned around and fell asleep. Pheo looked at Faze and then looked at Percival. He walked up to Faze and said "I think we better watch what we say..." 

After a few minutes everyone was asleep except for Lithariel who was sleeping next to Faze. She just looked at the stars from a nearby window. Her legs were aching from all the walking she had done the day before. After a few minutes of looking at the stars, her eyelids slowly shut and she fell asleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"How freaking far away is this darn location!?" Caran exclaimed, exhausted as sweat ran down his forehead. 

The warm Sun flashed against the Fellowhsip as they walked across a small road. They had been walking since that very morning and the temperature was taking the toll on them. Daro grabbed his gourd and took a sip of water. Faze was leading the group, while Percival was in the back. The fight from yesterday still left a sour taste in both their mouths. Percival wasn't talking much, in fact the whole group wasn't talking much. Suddenly the Red Sand dunes of Barandor appeared in front of them as they climbed a cliff. 

Lithariel sighed.

"We're almost there..." She said exhausted.  
"We got about a few miles left before arriving there..." Faze said almost panting.

"Great..." Pheo said energetic yet with a hint of extreme tiredness "I'm just getting started."

 

It was about noon as the Fellowship walked slowly through the Red Hills of Barandor. At one point, Caran collapsed and fell beside Elgorn. Elgorn grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

"Get up old friend." Elgorn said with a smile "We still have loads of ways to go."

Caran grunted and continued walking beside Elgorn. 

 

Hours had soon passed by and still no sign of the Village Hidden in the Sands. No one was talking cause of conserving body fluids. Caran had passed out and Elgorn was carrying him.

"It's....so...damn....." Lithariel didn't even finish his sentence. She just collapsed on the ground.

Percival quickly walked towards Lithariel and tried to grab her but Faze stopped him.

"I got it." Faze said with a untrustworthy look on his face.

Faze grabbed her and continued walking.

Percival went back to the back of the line and kept walking. After a few minutes, Elgorn and Pheo both collapsed as well, leaving Percival, Faze and Daro left to carry them. Daro grabbed Elgorn and Pheo by the arms and kept on walking. Percival took Caran and followed them. After a good half hour of walking, Faze collapsed into the hot, red sand. Daro was right behind him and his eyes were closing as he walked. In a matter of seconds he fell as well.

"No..." Percival said with the driest lips he had ever had in his existence as he pointed to Daro.

Percival fell on his knees and his eyes started closing. Just before collapsing of exhaustion, Percival noticed some shadows right in front of him. 

 

Lithariel woke up. She slowly opened her eyelids and looked around. A small monk looked at her as he poured water on her face. Lithariel grabbed the water and drank a lot of it.

"Thank you..." She said as she looked around. They were in a stone monastery with a glass roof. The whole Fellowship was there, getting treated by monks.

Lithariel sit up and cracked her neck. The monk she had saw earlier walked away into a small room. The place was well lit and there was a pool in the middle of the monastery. Pheo sit up as well and waved at Lithariel. Lithariel waved back and walked up to Faze who was drinking water. 

"I think we're here." Faze said with a smile.

"I was afraid for a moment." Lithariel said as she sat beside Faze.

"Of what?" Faze asked.

"Dying in the desert..." She said as she looked at the floor.

Faze looked at Lithariel and put a hand on her back. 

"Don't worry." Faze said "I got your back." 

Lithariel smiled.

Suddenly an old monk in large yellow and orange robes walked out. He walked up to Percival who was just sitting up and said. "You must be the Mage."

Percival looked at the monk still half asleep.

"Euh....yeah.." Percival said as he rubbed his eyes. 

"I see extreme potential in you, young Mage" the monk said "I am Maki. I see you have come here to start the first trial in acquiring the Seal of Orichalcos. Dangerous, Dangerous, path you are taking."

Percival and the others looked at Maki confused.

"How does he know?" Asked Elgorn. "Did someone tell him?"

"No..." Faze said slowly as he looked back at Maki.

"Monks have extreme talent." Maki simply said. "Just the barrier protecting us from Dormworm is held by all the Monks in this monastery."

"Using Magic?" Asked Percival.

"You are correct." Maki responded.

"Why didn't we run into him by the way?" Asked Daro.

"As long as the trial hasn't been started.." Maki started.

"Whoa!" Pheo screamed out from outside the monastery. "Check this out!"

A few members of the Fellowship walked outside. Lithariel, Caran and Elgorn stayed in to listen to the monk.

 

As Faze and the others walked out, they saw huge old decrepit towers and ruins lying all over the place. They all looked in amazement at what looked like a big vast battlefield. 

 

"How do you start the trial?" Asked Elgorn.

Maki handed him a powder.

"What is this?" Asked Elgorn.

"Maki Powder." Maki responded in a smile. "You just put some in a certain way and then have your Mage say the magical spell of opening over it to start the trial."

"How do you place it?" Asked Lithariel.

Maki pointed to a wall. The wall represented the Seal of Orichalcos. The sign of the Seal had six different arrows shooting out of each end which represented the six trials. 

"You put the powder in similar fashion to wall painting." Maki said in a sabotaged English.

 

Faze waited for the others to disperse before grabbing Percival and slamming him against a wall.

"I don't know what kind of trick you pulled last night..." Whispered Faze angry "...but if you do something like that again, I WILL go all out on you."

Percival looked back at Faze.

"Yes, yes ok, just don't anger me Argonian....." Percival said stressed out at the thought of doing something like yesterday "Please.."

"Is that a provocation?!" Screamed out Faze as he punched Percival in the face.

Percival fell on the ground. He quickly turned around with his heart filled with rage. His eyes started glowing again. Percival screamed as he raised his hands towards Faze. He hit Faze with a full frontal shockwave that sent him flying through a stone wall. Faze smashed through it and did a few tunnels before stopping in the sand. He got back up quickly even angrier at Percival.

"You want a battle Mage?!" Yelled out the Argonian pissed out of his mind as he ran towards Percival. 

Faze used his wraith vision to see Percival's spells. He dodge a few force pushes and jumped over a few shockwaves before tackling Percival to the ground. Faze stood over Percival and punched him numerous times in the face. Percival's spells grew even stronger as he got madder. 

"Eblouenta!" He yelled out.

An extremely bright light flashed in Faze's eyes which made him topple over, trying to recover his sight. Faze quickly got back up and saw Percival, ready to unleash another dangerous spell.

"Picondova!" Faze yelled as his whole arm lighted up and hit the ground with full force, shutting off every spell in a mile of radius. The spell was extremely effective but it took most of Faze's energy out. Percival suddenly calmed down and the glow in his eyes disappeared.

In the monastery the monks all let out a small scream of pain as pressure went against their heads. 

"What's wrong?!" Asked Lithariel as she looked around.

The monks were on the ground holding their heads.

"Someone in your group shut off our barriers!!" Yelled out Maki panicked "We can't create them anymore! You idiots managed to start the trial in another way!"

"Wait doesn't that mean..." Elgorn started. 

A huge grumbling sound was heard as the ground under their feet started shaking.

Daro ran outside. A nearby tower collapsed as the ground below them shook.

"The Last standing city of Barandor shall fall..." Maki said as he ran away in his room followed by all the other monks. 

Lithariel and Elgorn hurried outside. 

Everyone was spread out.

"What's happening?" Asked Faze to Lithariel as she ran up to him.

"The monk's barriers shut off for some reason." Lithariel quickly explained "The first trial has started."

Faze thought of the spell he had just done. Everything was his fault. The ground shook more and more. Another small building collapsed onto the sand.

"Oh no..." Faze whispered. "I think I just released Dormworm."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Pheo slowly walked against the soft Red Sand. Everyone was on their guard. The stress was rising as more and more sounds were heard. No one was talking.

Suddenly, out of no where, a huge, dirty, 100 foot worm launched out of the ground right beside Pheo.

"What in the world?!" Exclaimed Pheo as he quickly jumped onto the ground. 

Pheo watched as Dormworm flew through the air, huge black mandibles open. Dormworm crashed through a building and landed right beside Faze.

A piece of stone hit him right in the head which made him fall over. The worm buried itself back into the sand as it made a loud noise.

"Faze!" Yelled out Lithariel as she ran up to him.

Faze got back up quickly. He was a bit dizzy and he was bleeding from his forehead but nothing major.

"Everyone get ready!" Faze screamed out as the ground started shaking again.

Dormworm crashed through the the sand, mandibles closed and struck Caran with his head sending him flying. Pheo grabbed an arrow and shot it at Dormworm. The arrow struck the side of his body but he didn't even budge. Instead he crashed back into the earth. Elgorn ran up to Caran.

" Are You alright?" Asked Elgorn as he helped Caran back up.

Caran shook his head a bit before responding "Yeah.."

The ground started shaking again as Pheo ran towards Daro.

"Throw me up there!" He yelled as he jumped onto Daro's hands.

Daro took a swing and threw Pheo on top of the Monastery. Pheo positioned himself and started up three fire arrows. Suddenly Dormworm crashed through the sand and flew towards Daro. Pheo released the string on his bow and the three arrows struck Dormworm in the mouth as he opened up his mandibles. He let out a loud noise as he was falling straight on Daro.

"Daro!" Yelled out Percival as he ran towards him.

Daro took out his sword and jumped into Dormworm. Dormworm crashed into the ground leaving only a big hole where he was. Pheo looked in horror at what had just happened.

Percival dropped on his knees. He couldn't believe it. They had already lost one member.

"How in the bloody heavens are we going to stop this thing?!" Screamed out Elgorn to Faze.

Faze thought for a moment. He sighed and yelled out "We need Percival to get mad!"

"How though?" Responded Pheo.

"Leave it to me..." Faze said with a sigh as he walked up the hill towards the young Mage.

"Get up Percival." Faze exclaimed as he ran up to him and punched him in the face. 

"That works..." Pheo said with a sigh.

Percival looked up at Faze with blue glowing eyes.

"Argonian..." Percival said with a serious face "You are starting to get on my nerves..." 

Percival reached out with his two arms. Suddenly a blue aura surrounded them completely. Faze watched as the aura descended along Percival's arms and onto his hands. Percival took a swing and hit Faze at the same place using both hands mixed with a force push. 

"Valenta!" He exclaimed as he let go off the spell.

Suddenly, Faze went flying through the monastery walls and crashed right through the building. He kept on going and finally stopped by crashing into a nearby bell tower. 

"Holy Lord Above...." Pheo whispered as he watched Faze crash through the tower.

"Faze!!!" Yelled out Lithariel with a hand over her mouth.

"What now?!" Exclaimed Caran as he stood on the ruins of an old building. 

A giant bell from the bell tower fell off its hinges and crashed onto the sand creating a huge sound. 

"Aaaaah!" Yelled out Lithariel as she covered her ears. 

A loud noise was heard as the ground started shaking more and more. Percival looked around him as he walked towards Faze, a few metres away. 

Dormworm crashed out of the earth and flew towards Percival. Percival quickly turned around and with a scream, he held Dormworm in the air using a Tier 6 spell. 

"Yaaaaaaaah!!" Yelled out Percival as he lowered the worm onto the ground. 

"Here's our chance!" Exclaimed Elgorn as he ran towards Dormworm. 

Elgorn plunged his Elven sword deep into Dormworm's body. Caran ran up to the worm and started chopping it with his axe. Lithariel was stabbing it with her dagger and Pheo was shooting arrows from the top of the monastery. Suddenly, Dormworm let out a long scream of pain. The whole worm started shaking. A fine silver blade pierced right through the beast's head and out came a Khajit arm. Daro jumped out of the worm and sliced it open using his sword. 

Percival looked at Daro in amazement as his eyes stopped glowing. His powers stopped completely and Percival fell on the ground. The Tier 6 spell had took all his energy to hold and now he was completely out of energy.  
"Never...." Daro said as he looked at the beast "Never ever again..."

Daro was covered in god knows what. He smelled really bad and he had bits and pieces of Dormworm stuck to him. He wiped off his face and looked around him. Pheo jumped off the monastery and ran towards Faze. Lithariel followed. Elgorn walked up to Percival to see if he was okay. Everything seemed to be going fine, he was just sleeping due to exhaustion. 

 

Pheo took out some medicines and applied them to Faze who was half conscious. Faze had shards of stone and other various things stuck in his body. He had a few fractured ribs and a few fractures all over the body. Lithariel ran up to Faze and caressed his head.

"What happened between you two?" Lithariel quietly asked as she passed her hand into Faze's face. "What was Percival talking about?"

"We....." Faze took a deep breath "Got in a fight right before the trial started. I told him I didn't want him to do something like he did yesterday again and he got mad when I punched him. That's why I had to shut off his spells and the monk's barriers at the same time, which I wasn't thinking about at the time." 

Percival looked at Lithariel from far away and sighed. He wished someone cared for him as much as Lithariel did for Faze. What he didn't understand though was that they weren't even going out. They were just student and teacher yet they bond together so well. Percival was jealous of Faze and most importantly, Lithariel. That was one of the main reasons why he kept getting mad at Faze as well.

"You guys need to get your stuff together..." Pheo said sincerely "Or else we won't be able to do this journey as a group. We need you two!"

"Yeah..." Faze simply said before falling asleep. 

Lithariel passed her hand through her long red and black hair. She sighed before grabbing Faze and bringing him inside the monastery. She didn't understand why Faze was being so harsh to Percival. It wasn't necessarily his fault. However, Percival had still almost killed Faze 2 times already. She thought of Percival. She kind of pitied him but not enough to care that much.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That same night in The Monastery, The Fellowship had a small feast with the Monks.

"No one ever got past the First Trial except Tier 5 Mages and you even managed to Kill Dormworm!" Exclaimed Maki in his broken English.

Pheo gently punched Daro on the shoulder.

"I thought you were a goner." Pheo laughed off.

"I think we all thought that..." Caran said laughing as he took a shot of mead.

"At Least..." Elgorn said through half eaten bits of corn "...Percival managed to stop the worm using magic. His abilities are growing stronger even though he can't control them well enough."

"If he doesn't control himself soon enough..." Daro responded "We might have a mighty fiend at our hands..."

Pheo drank from his chug. He slammed it on the table before laying back in his chair.

"At least no one died..." Pheo responded with a smile as he closed his eyes, drunk.

Daro gently pushed Pheo who fell on the ground and didn't bother to get back up. Daro laughed out loud.

"You are mighty drunk my friend." Daro said as he grabbed Pheo's arms and lifted him onto his chair.

Elgorn ignored what was happening between Pheo and Daro and turned towards Maki.

"Do you think you could help our friend control his emotions?" Elgorn gently asked.

"I sorry.." Maki responded with a slight Chinese accent "Your friend...the only way he could learn to control his emotion is with lot of practice and solitude. He need to clear his head of what is going on, especially between him, the Argonian, and the Female."

Elgorn sighed as he sat back in his chair.

"Arm Wrestle me Dwarf!" Pheo screamed out as he slammed his elbow on the long wood table filled with dishes.

Elgorn and Daro laughed a bit as Caran stared at Pheo.

"You are on Assassin." Caran yelled out as he leaned onto the table. 

Within a matter of seconds, Caran won the match.

"Ha Ha!" Screamed out Caran in Victory as he stood on the table.

"Wha....HAHAHAHA!" Laughed Pheo drunk as he collapsed onto the table.

"Too many chugs of Mead Pheo?" Asked Elgorn laughing. They were all getting pretty drunk but Pheo was the worst.

"Screw this." Pheo said as he stood up, wobbly. "I'm going to bed."

Pheo stood up and walked towards the rooms. At least he thought he did.

"Uhmmm..." Daro started as he almost burst out laughing.

Pheo kept on walking.  
"Shush!" Yelled out Caran Excited.

Suddenly, Pheo's left foot gave in and he fell in the pool. He smashed into the water, face first. He slowly came back to the surface.

"God Damn It..." He said as he looked around him.

 

Percival was still sleeping. Lithariel was sitting beside Faze who was close to Percival.

"Promise me!" Lithariel whispered.

"I thought I was the teacher..." Faze said as a joke.

Lithariel laughed it off with a smile.

"Promise me!" She repeated.

"I can't promise anything." Faze responded. "You saw how he reacted to a punch today. How can I treat him like a friend and trust him if he's going to keep doing these kind of things?"

"Just..." Lithariel said almost mad "Promise me you'll be nicer to Percival even though he almost killed you."

"Twice." Faze responded.

"You think that doesn't affect me?!" Lithariel responded angry.

"Affect you?" Faze asked curious. "Why would that affect you? I mean I'm your trainer after all but I'm not that...."

Without saying another word, Lithariel kissed Faze for what seemed an eternity. Faze's eyes opened wide but eventually closed. He had never thought of this moment as an actual thing. Faze had never realized Lithariel had these kind of feelings for him until now. He thought back for a moment. He thought of how afraid she was when he was close to death, when Percival attacked him. He thought of how long they had been training together. He was even more surprised to realize that he had equal feelings for Lithariel. He was surprised to see how much he really cared for Lithariel deep down. 

Lithariel backed away from the kiss and looked at Faze.

"Lithariel..." Faze started.

"Sleep..." Lithariel responded "You'll need your energy for tomorrow, and think of what I said." 

"But.." Faze started again.

Lithariel put a finger to her mouth to represent silence. She slowly walked towards the door and walked out with a smile. She wasn't sure if Faze had the same feelings as she had but she sure as hell was willing to try. 

"Lithariel!" Exclaimed Caran as he saw her walk out the rooms. "Come join us! Pheo is as drunk as a Mordovae on a Grog Trip!"

Lithariel laughed, walked to the table and sat down. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Since we are leaving Barandor today, we could arrive in the Elven Provinces in about two days." Explained Caran as he sat at the table.

The whole group was sitting at the table except for the Monks who were meditating in their sacred rooms. Caran was trying to guess where the next trial might be located. Fyndel, the City Hidden in the Trees and the Elves's main city was his best bet. Fyndel was the City of Beliefs and Religion which is why Caran thought that would be the next place. Plus, if Fyndel wasn't where the next Trial was located, Elgorn had some friends there that could help.

"So we would be leaving today?" Elgorn asked.

"Yeah." Faze responded as he ate a piece of cheese.

"Dur....uh......mruf.." Pheo responded as he caresses his head. He had a massive headache from the night before. "Today?"

"What's wrong Pheo?" Lithariel asked. "Are you not feeling it?"

"There's a lot of things I can't feel right now..." Pheo responded. "Like my head..."

Lithariel laughed. 

"What do you say Percival?" Asked Faze.

"Hard to say Argonian.." Percival said as he stared at Faze and Lithariel.

Faze hated it when people called him Argonian. He felt undesired and unwanted. He held back however as he thought of what Lithariel had said the night before.

"Wait a minute..." Elgorn said as he thought for a second. "If we want to go to Fyndel, doesn't that mean we will have to cross the Plains of Doom?"

The Plains of Doom were a section of the Desert that separated The Hills of Barandor and The Province of the Elves. It was filled with sinkholes and rumours said that the Undead also lived there. The Undead were a race of Alabasta all but forgotten that managed to survive in the dark caves beneath the Sinkholes which citizens called "The Hall of The Undead." The caves were old mining shafts that the Dwarves used but stopped using for mysterious reasons. No one, especially the Elves wanted to go explore the region. It was way too dangerous. Plus the place was filled with diseases from all the Dead Bodies and Undead.

"Oh crap." Daro said.

"Come on you weaklings.." Caran shouted "It's the fastest way there, plus we might get to kill some Undead!"

"He's right." Faze responded "It's the fastest way there and the fastest way we're getting Percival to the stage he needs to be to open the Seal of Orichaclos."

"Are you guys done eating yet?" Caran asked as he changed the subject.

"Yeah." Daro said as he threw his fork at Pheo.

Pheo grunted and fell off his chair.

"We might have to carry Pheo though.." Daro said as he laughed.

The Fellowship grabbed their equipment and sneaked out of the Monastery. They didn't want to disturb the monks while they were praying plus, they didn't want to do the dishes. 

 

They walked for about Three hours until they reached the border that separated Barandor and The Plains of Doom.

"Here goes nothing." Pheo said as he crossed the border clumsily.

"Watch yourselves!" Exclaimed Elgorn "This place is filled with sinkholes."

"I'll go first!" Daro said as he moved to the Front of the line "I can hear and sense where the sand is weaker. I can alert you guys and tell you where to go so you don't sink. Just follow me."

 

They walked for another good hour, occasionally running into a few dead bodies laying in the ground. The Plains of Doom smelled horrible. Pheo, still recovering from being drunk, stepped right into a sinkhole clumsily. Faze was the first to notice.

"Pheo!" He exclaimed as he grabbed his arm and pull.

Faze managed to pull Pheo out but after that he started coughing intensely. 

"Faze?" Pheo asked as he stood up "Are you alright?"

"Yeah..yeah.." Faze responded as he stopped coughing "It's fine.." 

Lithariel looked at him a bit worried but continued walking beside him.

They walked for what seemed another hour until eventually reaching a well. They stopped around the well and decided to take a break.

"Our water gourds are empty." Elgorn said as he looked at the well.

"So.." Pheo responded "You aren't suggesting we jump into that wall to go fetch water are you?"

"Well..." Elgorn said as he raised his shoulders.

"I don't get it." Daro said as he looked around. "We should at least have entered the Elven Provinces by now."

"Hey..." Caran responded "You're the one leading us here."

"Shut your mouth Dwarf." Daro started "You couldn't have done a...."

Faze started coughing again. This time however he fell on the ground and spit out a bit of blood.

"Faze?!" Lithariel yelled out as she helped him back up.

"Damn..." Faze said as he stopped coughing and wiped his lips.

"What's wrong?" Asked Elgorn.

"I don't know." Lithariel said. "Percival, could you come see if Faze has anything dangerous?"

Percival sighed but eventually walked towards Faze and looked at him. He inspected him for a second. His eyes looked tired and his body was warmer than usual. 

"He just needs water.." Percival said. He lied. Faze had contracted a disease from the nearby corpses. Percival knew what it was, in fact he could even cure it. However he wanted to see Faze suffer for a bit. He wanted Faze to suffer and he wanted Lithariel to be by his side.

"See..." Elgorn said as he looked at Pheo and pointed at the well.

Pheo sighed.

"Alright everyone!" Daro said as he ran towards the well. "Get in. We need to find water for Faze. Lithariel and Faze, you need to come down to though. It isn't safe all alone up here."

Daro jumped into the well followed by Percival.

"I don't want to..." Pheo said as he looked down the well.

Elgorn grabbed Pheo and threw him down the well. 

"Hey!!" Pheo yelled out as he crashed onto the rock floor down below.

Elgorn jumped in.

"You sure you're okay?" Lithariel asked as she helped Faze up.

"Yeah Yeah..." Faze said as he walked towards the well.

Faze jumped down followed by Lithariel.

 

"Hey!"

"Who's that?"

"Oww! That's my eye!" 

"I can't see anything!"

"Someone open a light!"

"Uh it smells here."

Caran scratched a flint on a nearby rock wall and lit up a torch.

Pheo rubbed his eye as he lit up his own torch.

"What is this place?" Asked Elgorn as he looked around "And why does it stink more than on the surface?"

Pheo moved his torch towards the ground and saw a bunch of dead corpses all over the place. Dwarves. Dead Dwarves. His eyes grew big as he lowered his bandana and vomit on the floor.

"Ughh...." Pheo said in disgust as he looked around "Oh my god...."

Daro put one of his hands over his nose.

"No water here..." Caran said, intrigued as he looked around him. "Maybe if we keep walking.."

 

The Fellowship kept walking in the dark, humid cave. After a bit of walking, Caran tripped on something in the ground. 

"AAAH!" Yelled out Caran thinking something had grabbed him.

Elgorn laughed as he pointed his touch to the ground. Railway tracks. They were in one of the Dwarves's mines.  
"This might be a small nostalgic trip for you my friend!" Elgorn exclaimed as he helped Caran back up. 

"A short, disgusting trip hopefully." Caran responded. 

 

They kept on walking until their torches ran out. 

"Well shit."

"Caran? Can you find a nearby wall?"

The whole group was in a dark open space. Something was dripping.

"I can hear water!"

"I think I got something!" Caran said as he took out his flint.

He scratched the flint against the surface. Something unexpected happened however. The flint pierced right through the surface and a disgusting warm liquid fell onto Caran's hand.

"What is that?" Caran said curious as he scratched his flint on the floor and lit up a torch.

He held his torch up to his hand. His hand was inside a big red cocoon. 

"What in the bloody heavens?" Elgorn said as he looked around.

The entire room was filled with cocoons. Some of them were even on the ceiling which explained the dripping.

Faze started coughing again except this time he fell on the ground and vomit a large amount of blood. 

"Faze!?" Lithariel screamed out, terrified as she tried to help him "Faze!"

Percival looked at Faze and smiled but the smile soon faded away as he saw in how much pain Faze was. He then looked at Lithariel and she was even more terrified than the two times where Percival had almost killed Faze.

"Euh...Lithariel..." Percival started.

"NOT THE TIME!!" Caran exclaimed as he started running.

"What's wrong Caran?!" Exclaimed Pheo as he looked at the Dwarf run away. 

Pheo looked back at the open cocoon and saw one of the most disgusting things he had ever saw. It was an undead. The thing was covered in a disgusting red liquid. It was horribly deformed with a few patches of dead skin left attached to the rotten tendons and muscles. It was incredibly skinny with long arms and legs. It didn't have any eyes either. They seemed gouged out, leaving blood vessels fall out of the empty eye sockets. It had no nose and the lips were just completely ripped off. It started moving and slowly moved out of the cocoon with its jaw wide open, making unnatural gutting sounds.

"GET A MOVE ON!!!" Pheo said as he set fire to the cocoon with his torch.

He looked around him and saw that the cocoons were splitting open revealing hundreds of Undead.

"Oh my god..." Lithariel said as she grabbed Faze and started running.

The whole group followed Caran as they heard the sounds of the undead running behind them.

"What the hell are we things?!" Pheo exclaimed as he kept on running as fast as he could.

"Undead!" Elgorn responded between breaths.

 

After running for a while, the group saw a flight of stairs.

"Up the stairs!" Ordered Daro as he pointed to the stairs.

They raced up the stairs, still surprised to see the undead behind them.The stairs lead to a big open room with a door leaving outside. Daro ran towards the door and tried to open it.

"It's locked!" Daro exclaimed.

They could hear the undead walking up the stairs.

"Grab those tables and whatever you can!" Elgorn exclaimed "We need to block them!" 

Lithariel put Faze on the ground to help the others but the second she put him down he started coughing again. This time he started wheezing and gagging as he searched for air.

"Percival!" Lithariel screamed almost crying.

Pheo took out his bow and started shooting the undead with his fire arrows. He could hold them back while the others built a wall but he was about to run out of arrows. 

"Guys!" Pheo yelled out "I'm running out of arrows! Hurry up!"

"I'm sorry!" Caran yelled out in rage "I can't go any faster than this!"

Percival was quickly looking around him, filled with stress.

"Percival!" Lithariel exclaimed again. 

Percival looked at Faze.

"Sorry I'm trying to help them!" Percival said.

Elgorn pushed Percival back.

"Go help Faze, we got this!" Elgorn said as he stacked a piece of wood on top of the wall.

Percival sighed as he ran towards Faze. He threw his medicine pouch down and took out some herbs which he out in a jar mixed with a blue potion. 

"Pyro!" Yelled out Percival as he tried to ignite the potion from inside the jar. Nothing happened.

"Pyro!" He tried again. Nothing happened.

"God damn it!" Percival yelled out loud as he grabbed a nearby torch and heated up the potion until the herbs melted with the potion.

"They're breaching the wall!" Exclaimed Pheo as he set fire to the wood wall they had built.

"Get ready!" Yelled out Daro as he took out his sword.

"Go help them!" Percival exclaimed terrified as he tried to think "I got this!"

Lithariel took a quick look at Faze who had blood running down his mouth. She turned around, took out her sword and positioned herself with the others.

"They're about to breach through!" Yelled out Caran.

"We can do this!" Exclaimed Lithariel filled with rage. 

The Undead smashed through the burning wood and ran towards them. There wasn't that many undead left.

"YAAAAAAAAH!" Exclaimed Lithariel as she ran into the crowd of Undead.

Lithariel sliced an Undead in half. Her left arm turned into her wraith arm. She hit the floor with great power which stunned the Undead for a bit. Elgorn smashed his sword through an Undead's head before taking it out and slicing it off. Daro was slicing them with his sword. Caran decpaitated one of them with his axe as he screamed.

 

Percival heated the potion a bit more before pouring it down Faze's throat. Percival had misjudged Faze. Faze didn't hate him after all. He was just scared of things he didn't know and he was trying to protect the people he cared for. Maybe Percival WAS dangerous. Percival really wanted to master his spells so he could stop posing a threat to his entire Fellowship. He felt like they were really his friends even though they didn't necessarily trust him. After all, Faze seemed a bit easy going today around Percival. He seemed a lot nicer.  
Suddenly an Undead appeared out of nowhere and tried to attack Percival while he was healing Faze.

Daro took his torch and threw it at the Undead who set on fire. Lithariel ran up to the creature and sliced it's head off with a scream. He was the last Undead. They had managed to kill all of them without a scratch. Lithariel walked up to Faze and Percival.

"He should be fine tomorrow morning." Percival responded "But you should leave him sleep for tonight, leave him time to fight off the infection. The infection was in its early stages since he contracted it today." 

Lithariel hugged Percival. She sobbed as a tear ran down her eye and onto Percival's shoulder.

"Thank...Thank you..." Lithariel said emotionally. 

"Let's get the hell out of here." Daro said as he grabbed a broken leg table and smashed the door with it. 

After a few hits, he managed to break open the door. Daro walked out and looked around curiously. It was nighttime and they somehow found their way into the Elven Provinces, seeing the huge trees around them. Daro fell on the ground and sighed. They had managed to escape the undead. Caran ran out of the small building and vomited on the green grass shining against the moonlight. The building they had escaped of was a small building that lead inside the mines. It was a very small building filled with two big tables and various equipment. Pheo walked out, exhausted.

"Augh...." Pheo said as he took a long breath "It sure smelled terrible in there." 

The rest of the gang walked out. Lithariel was carrying Faze. 

"So..." Elgorn said as he wiped off Undead blood from his armour "Who's hungry?" 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lithariel was sitting on a big rock. She stared at the moon with a smile. She had managed to save Faze and she survived the undead attack. Percival walked up to her and sat beside her.

"Hey..." Percival said exhausted.

"Thanks again." Lithariel said "For saving Faze."

"About that..." Percival said as he looked at Lithariel "Lithariel...I.."

"Don't worry." Lithariel said with a smile "You think I don't see it when someone seems interested in me?"

Percival blushed a little.

"I...well.." Percival started.  
"Percival..." Lithariel said as she grabbed his hands "I like Faze....In fact we kissed for the first time yesterday. I don't like you but I don't want you to beat yourself over this. You're a nice guy but I'm not interested at all. I've known Faze for a long time and Im Seriously in love with him. However, I do have something to say to you..."

Percival smiled.

"I kind of guessed that you liked Faze seeing how you reacted a few hours ago." Percival responded.

Lithariel wasn't interested in him and he wasn't going to have someone to care for him but at least now it didn't feel as bad. He felt like Lithariel was her friend and that made him happy. In fact the whole Fellowship felt like his friends except for Faze.

"Shoot..." Percival said.

"I want you and Faze to be a lot nicer to each other." Lithariel asked "you guys could become great friends but only if you put efforts into being nicer with Faze."

Percival smiled again.

"I can do that." Percival said with a smile. 

Percival was happy. He wasn't as sad as he was before and he didn't feel alone anymore. He felt accepted into the group. He was going to do his best to fit even more in the next weeks because he really felt like these people were his friends. 

Percival and Lithariel jumped off the rock and sat around the campfire they had built. 

"Let's never do that again." Caran said almost falling asleep.

"Good idea." Elgorn responded "At least now the second trial is finished."

"Who would've guessed?" Pheo said as he laid down.

Daro was already asleep.

"Good night everyone!" Lithariel said with a smile as she laid down beside Faze.

"Hey Pheo!" Percival exclaimed "Nice going today! You really held those Undead back!"

"Thanks.." Pheo said with a smile before falling asleep.

In a matter of seconds everyone fell asleep around the campfire. Percival smiled and closed his eyes. He was finally finding his place.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Faze opened his eyes. He was feeling much better than yesterday and he wondered why. He had missed a big part of yesterday's Undead Attack since he had lost consciousness. He sat up and looked around him. Everyone was still asleep. It had just turned day. The grass around him was wet and there was a slight fog surrounding them. Clouds were everywhere in the sky which made the mood a bit grey. Lithariel slowly woke up as she saw Faze move beside her.

"Hey..." Whispered Faze as he looked at her. "What happened yesterday?"

Lithariel smiled. 

"We managed to hold the Undead off and we found that building over there." She said as she pointed at it. "Percival healed you while we were defending you guys from the back. After the attack we smashed open the door and we found out that we had entered the Elven Provinces."

Faze looked around. Percival was lying a few feet away around the campfire, sleeping.

"Percival healed me?" Faze asked curious "Maybe he isn't so bad after all."

"Don't worry." Lithariel responded "I talked with him yesterday. Cleared a few things out. I really want you guys to be friends."

"I'll try to focus on that..." Faze said as he laid back down. 

He sighed before closing his eyes. Suddenly, Lithariel's lips pressed against his and they kissed again. Faze smiled.

"I was going to ask..." Faze said as he stood back up. "If the kiss we had two days ago was worth something... Guess it does."

"That's one of the subjects I cleared out with Percival." Lithariel responded "I could see he was interested in me."

"And what did you say?" Faze asked nervously.

"That I loved you." Lithariel said before kissing Faze again. 

This time it was longer. It felt like this was their actual first kiss.

"It's funny because..." Faze responded "I was about to say the same thing."

Lithariel smiled.

Suddenly, Pheo moved and sat up.

"Good morning Pheo." Faze said.

Pheo rubbed his eyes and looked at Faze.

"You're already up?" He asked curious.  
"Yeah I guess so." Faze said with a smile.

"Nice to see you buddy." Pheo said as he pushed Daro onto the wet grass.

Daro grunted as he woke up in the wet grass. Pheo laughed. Daro quickly responded by kicking him in the ribs.

 

After a short while, everyone was up and running. They were still heading towards Fyndel.

"Why is Fyndel nicknamed "The City Hidden in the Trees"?" Asked Pheo curiously as he looked around him. The Elven Provinces were beautiful. The trees were tall and brown/silver in colour with green/purple leaves.

"Have you seen the size of these trees?" Responded Caran "There's your answer."

"Elgorn!" Percival exclaimed "You must know something about the Elven Capital?"

"In fact I do Percival." Responded Elgorn with a smile. "It's named "The City Hidden in The Leaves" because of an old war tradition Elven Berserkers usually used. They would hide up in the trees during an assault, and then come swooping down on their opponents with daggers, bows, explosives, basically everything they could find."

The whole group listened to the story, fascinated at what the Elf was talking about.

"Fyndel is also known for being the second biggest city in Alabasta, right after Faran Dhur." Elgorn continued to explain "Every year, the Elves hold a Festival to celebrate old Elven Traditions and the anniversary of their city. In fact the Festival should be going on right now." 

"A festival?!" Lithariel screamed out in excitement "That's fun!"

"Quite the coincidence!" Percival said with a smile.

"Hopefully they have Mead!" Caran screamed out.

"That might not be a good thing for Pheo..." Daro said with a smiled as he looked at the ground.

Pheo pushed Daro slightly with a smile.

"You shouldn't talk Khajit." Pheo responded "Aren't Beastmasters know for their abusive use of Mead?" 

"Only unexperienced Beastmasters my friend." Daro explained.

"Unexperienced..." Laughed off Faze.

"I'll try not to get drunk but only if you promise to get drunk." Pheo said as he looked at Daro.

"I don't know..." Daro responded with a smile "..we'll have to see how things go down and THEN I might get drunk."

"Cowards." Caran laughed.

"Says the Dwarf with an infinite Mead take.." Faze said as he laughed.

"Hey." Caran said as he laughed "Dwarves might be known for their Mead intake, but I'm not that bad."

"We'll see about that." Faze said with a smile.

"Are you challenging me?" Caran answered.

"Maybe." Faze responded.

"You're on Argonian." Caran said with a laugh.

 

The whole group kept walking until they reached a nearby bridge guarded by two elves. 

"Stop, trespassers!" Said one of the guards as he blocked the entry to the bridge. "What are you people doing here?" 

"We're here for the Festival." Daro said quickly.

"Take out all your weapons so we can see them and tell us your motives!" Responded the other guard.

They all took out their weapons and showed them to the elves.

"We're here to turn this guy right here..." Faze said as he pointed to Percival "...Into a Divine Mage."

Percival smiled as he looked at the guards.

The Guards looked surprised.

"A divine Mage?" Said one of them as he moved aside "Then you've come to the right place! Move Along..."

The Fellowship proceeded as they walked along the bridge. They kept walking for a while before finally running into the Capital of the Elves, Fyndel. 

"Wow..." Caran said as he looked around.

Fyndel was a big city, protected by big walls kind of like Faran Dhur except the materials were different. The whole city had a light purple, shinny, kind of thing going on that matched with the trees all around the place. Elgorn looked in appreciation at the Elves' capital. He was proud of what they had built. He had grown up here. The streets were filled with people and elves enjoying life and participating in the festival. Some Elves were even hitting large drums to create a small beat that played in the background during the day.

Elgorn took a deep breath.

"Aaah..." Elgorn said as he looked around "Sweet old Fyndel.."

"We should find somewhere to sleep before doing anything else." Faze suggested "We wouldn't want to sleep on the roads after all."

"Yeah..." Pheo said uncertain "let's do that."

The Fellowship found a nearby Inn where they managed to find themselves a big room for the night. They unpacked their things and walked out.

"This place is beautiful!" Lithariel said astonished as she looked around her. 

Some Elves with Elven and Glass armours were standing on top of a large wall, shooting flame arrows into the air. The drums became even more intense. Suddenly loud horns were heard. Some Elves were dancing around majestically with their partners. 

"Fresh mead here!" Yelled a nearby human selling alcohol to the people of Fyndel. "Fresh Mead!"

Caran looked at the nearby wooden stand and looked back at the Argonian with a smile. 

"You're on Faze!" Caran said as he grabbed Faze's hand and walked towards the stand. "50 chugs of mead!"

The human filled the chugs up. After a while he handed all of them to Caran and Faze. Caran and Faze put them all on a nearby picnic table and both of them sat down in front of each other. The rest of the group stood around the table.

"You sure you want to do this?" Faze asked joyfully. 

"What?" Caran said smiling "You think I'll lose?"

"Well...." Faze responded with a sly smile "After all.....you are paying for these chugs."

"3...2...1...Chug!" Yelled out Daro.

Faze grabbed the nearest chug and started to drink it. Caran did the same. A bunch of other Elves came around, ordering drinks and looking at the intense chugging match. After a few minutes, Caran backed up in his chair and let out a loud burp. He had took 12 chugs and Faze was at 15. Faze was really dizzy and really drunk. 

"Come on Caran!" Pheo said as he massaged Caran's neck. "I thought you would do better than that!" 

Caran laughed. "Says the guy who got drunk with 3 chugs of mead 2 days ago!" He said as he chugged another chug quickly. People cheered as Caran came back in the race. Faze grabbed one awkwardly and put it to his lips, slowly drinking the mix of alcohol, brew, apple cider and brown sugar. He let out a loud burp and put one of his hands to his head.

"Ahh.....my head.." Faze said slowly.

"Come on Faze!" Lithariel said "only got 9 to go!"

Faze cracked his hands and took another chug of mead. He looked at Caran with a smile and winked as he drank the chug. Mead was falling down the chug and onto Caran's beard.


End file.
